Panel lifting and supporting device



Oct. 26, 1954 M. l. MASTERSON, JR., @TAL 2,692,753

PNEL LIFTING AND SUPPORTING DEVICE Filed March 23, 1953 IN V EN TORS.MELVIN I. MASTERSON Jr' CASH Y CRISW'ELL B Y Lz/vz'de/L 2( awC/ A TTORNE YS Patented Oct. 26, 1954 PANEL LIFTING AND SUPPORTING DEVICEMelvin I. Masterson,

Jr., and Cash V. Criswell,

ong Beach, Calif. Application March 23, 1953, Serial No. 344,032

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to manually actuated lifting devices.

During the construction or alteration of a building it often becomesnecessary to attach a panel, such as a sheet of wallboard, to thesurface of a wall. Generally, this requires that the panel first belifted off the floor a few inches. Thereafter the panel must besupported in this raised position while it is attached to the wall withsuitable fastening means.

The major object of the present invention is to provide a novel devicefor lifting a panel off the fioor and supporting it against a wall.

Normally, each panel is initially disposed adjacent the wall to which itis to be attached with its lower end spaced one or two inches away fromthe bottom of the wall and its upper end resting against the wall. It isa more particular object of the present `invention `to provide a liftingdevice of this nature to effect simultaneous movement of a panelforwardly and upwardly relative to the wall whereby it will be disposedin closely abutting relationship with the wall in its raised position.ln this manner the attachment of the panel to the wall is greatlyfacilitated.

A further object is to provide a lifting device of this nature whichincludes novel means permitting the panel to be releasably locked in itsraised position.

It is another object of the invention `to provide a lifting device ofthis nature which is rugged of construction and simple of design wherebyit may be sold at low cost and may offer a long service life.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a liftingdevice of this nature which is safe and foolproof in use.

It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a lifting deviceof this nature-which is light in weight and compact in size.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following detailed description of a preferred embodimentthereof, when taken in conjunction with the appended drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a preferred form of deviceembodying the present invention, showing the device positioned forlifting a panel off a floor; I

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view similar to Figure i, but showingthe panel moved to a raised position; and,

Figure 3 is a top plan view of said device, partly broken away insection,

which is adapted Referring now to the drawings, the preferred form ofdevice embodying the present invention includes a lever member generallydesignated Iii, below the intermediate portion of which is disposed afulcrum roller I2. The front end of the lever member Il! is formed withmeans I4 engageable with the bottom of a nat panel I6, which panel isshown positioned adjacent the wall I8 with its lower end resting uponthe surface of a floor I9. The panel I5 is adapted to be raised upwardlyfrom its position of Figure l to its elevated position of Figure 2 bythe application of a downwardly directed force indicated by the arrow Fin Figure 2, upon the rear end 20 of the lever member I0.

More particularly, the lever member I0 may include a generally flat mainbody 22 from the sides of which depend a pair of integral side elements24. The panel engaging means I4 may conveniently comprise a continuationof the main body 22. The fulcrum roller I2 is shown as being of tubularconfiguration and preferably it will be connected to the lever member I0by means of a horizontal pin 26. The horizontal pin 26 bridges the sideelements 24 at the mid-portion of the lever member. With thisarrangement, the roller I2` and the lever member are free to undergorelative longitudinal movement. Preferably, the center of gravity of thelever member will be located forwardly of the pin 26.

Referring now to Figure 1, in operation, the panel engaging means I4 isfirst urged underneath the bottom of the panel I6, with the fulcrumroller I2 being disposed with its left edge adjacent the pin 26. Itshould be noted that if the center of gravity of the lever member islocated forwardly of the pin 26, it will not be necessary to urge thepanel engaging means I4 into place. Instead, this means I4 may bedisposed just rearwardly of the bottom of the panel I6, and when thepanel is raised slightly, the lever member will self propel itselfforwardly so as to position the means I4 underneath the bottom of thepanel. This is an important feature since it enables the operator toutilize both of his hands in lifting the panel; the latter often beingquite heavy and cumbersome to manipulate. The rear end' 20 of the levermember will be in an elevated position relative to the iioor I9 when themeans I4 is under the panel.

After the means I4 has been positioned under the panel, referring toFigure 2, a downwardly directed force F is applied to the rear end 2t ofthe lever member. The application of such force causes the lever memberto pivot around the lthe rear end 32 t will be restrained againstforward rolling movefulcrum member l2; the front end of the lever memberrising off the floor as the rear end moves downwardly toward the oor. Asthe front end 26 rises, the panel engaging means I4 lifts the panel i6.During such lifting movement, the weight of the panel I6 will cause thefront end of the lever member to simultaneously move forwardly towardthe wall I8 at the same time that it moves upwardly relative thereto.During this simultaneous forward and upward movement of the front end ofthe lever member, the lever member will undergo forward longitudinalmovement relative to the roller; the outer periphery of the rollerrolling against the underside of the main body 22. By the time thebottom of the panel it has been lifted to the desired height it willalso closely abut the surface of the wall i8. The panel may be supportedin this raised position so long as the rear end 20 of the lever memberis maintained in a depressed position. Thus, the panel may then beattached to the wall by suitable fastening means such as nails, screws.bolts, or the like. It should be observed that once the panel le hasbeen moved to a raised position its weight will tend to urge the levermember rearwardly away from the Wall i3. In order to restrain the levermember against such rearward movement the underside of the main body 22may include a downwardly extending top element 32 shown welded to themain body. With this arrangement, once the outer periphery of the rolleri2 has moved rearwardly relative to the underside of the main body 22until it engages of the stop element, the roller ment and hence thelever member will be restrained against inadvertent rearward movementaway from the wall. Thus, the panel i8 may be held in its raisedposition against the wall with a minimum amount of attention on the partof the operator.

It should also be observed that although the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is particularly adapted for lifting a panel element,other embodiments may be utilized in lifting other types of articles.The present invention in its broadest scope contemplates the provisionof a lever member utilized 1n conjunction changes may be made withrespect thereto with- Number intermediate portion pin being disposedwithin the inner periphery of said roller, the application of a downwardforce upon the rear portion of said lever member causing said levermember to undergo forward movement relative to said lever member, theouter periphery of said roller rolling along the underside of said levermember until said outer periphery engages the rear of said stop elementwhereby said lever member will effect simultaneous forward and upwardmovement of said panel until the outer periphery of said roller engagesthe rear of said stop element, said stop element then restraining saidroller against forward longitudinal movement.

2. A device for lifting a panel off a floor and supporting it against awall, comprising: an elongated body and a pair of integral side elementsdepending from each side of said main body; a downwardly extending stopelement formed on the underside of said main body at the intermediateportion thereof; means formed at the front end of said lever memberengageable with the bottom of said panel; a floor-engaging fulcrumroller of tubular configuration disposed below the of said lever memberbetween said side elements; and, a horizontal pin bridging said sideelements, the center of gravity of said lever member being disposedforwardly of said pin, and the application of a downward force upon therear portion of said lever member causing said lever member to undergoforward movement relative to said lever member, the outer periphery ofsaid roller rolling along the underside of said lever member until saidouter periphery engages the rear of said stop element whereby said levermember will effect simultaneous forward and upward movement of saidpanel until the outer periphery of said roller engages the rear of saidstop element, said stop element then restraining said roller againstforward longitudinal movement.

3. A device for lifting a panel off a floor and supporting it against awall, comprising; an elongated main body and a pair of integral sideelements depending from` each side of said main body; means formed atthe front end of said lever member engageable with the bottom of saidpanel; a licor-engaging fulcrum roller of tubular configuration disposedbelow the intermediate portion of said lever member between said sidesaid lever member to undergo forward movement relative to said levermember, the outer periphery of said roller rolling along the undersideof References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSName Date 604,833 Muller May 31, 1898 FOREIGN PATENTS Number CountryDate 324,938 Sept. 8, 1920 Germany

